Mobile Networks Using Coverage From EE & Cheaper ‘Piggyback’ SIMs

In the UK, 13 other mobile networks piggyback on coverage from EE. You can therefore get EE coverage from other networks at a fraction of the price.

In the UK, there are only four network coverage providers: EE, O2, Three and Vodafone. Around them, there’s an ecosystem of “virtual network operators”: mobile networks that piggyback on coverage from one of the four big providers.

At the time of writing, 13 other mobile networks piggyback on coverage from EE. As a customer of one of those 13 mobile networks, you’ll get access to the same underlying coverage that’s available to customers on EE (although sometimes without access to the fastest 4G speeds).

This means on mobile networks like ASDA Mobile, BT Mobile, Plusnet Mobile and Virgin Mobile, you can get access to the same 99% population coverage available on EE. This is often available with a larger data allowance and at a much lower cost (e.g. with Pay As You Go and Pay Monthly plans, starting from as little as £5/month).

In this article, we’ll present a list of mobile networks using coverage from EE. We’ll also compare some of the best value SIM cards using coverage from EE, allowing you to access EE coverage at a lower price elsewhere.

Please note that deals from Orange and T-Mobile are no longer available to new customers. However, if you’re an existing customer of these networks, you can continue to use your existing service with 2G and 3G coverage.

Deals By Price Range

Through the rest of this article, we’ll compare the best value SIM cards giving you coverage from EE. We’ve separated the tariffs out by price range and tariff type (e.g. Pay Monthly or Pay As You Go).

Please select your preferred price range to see a list of currently available deals:

Pay As You Go

If you’re looking for a traditional Pay As You Go tariff with coverage from EE, you can choose from networks like 1pMobile, ASDA Mobile, Co-Op Mobile and Virgin Mobile as an alternative to EE Pay As You Go. There are also some specialist mobile networks such as CMLink (for calling China) and Vectone Mobile (for international calling).

If you’re looking for the lowest Pay As You Go rates, this can currently be found on 1pMobile. With a SIM card from 1pMobile, you’ll pay just 1p/minute, 1p/text and 1p/MB. These are the lowest Pay As You Go rates currently available on any network in the UK. However, you’ll need to top-up your phone with a minimum of £10 every 120 days, meaning there’s effectively a minimum spend of £30 per year.

For greater flexibility, we think ASDA Mobile is one of the best Pay As You Go networks with coverage from EE. You’ll pay 8p/minute, 4p/text and 5p/MB with comprehensive 2G, 3G and 4G coverage. There’s no need to top-up your phone every month (just use it at least once every 270 days to keep your SIM card active). You can also top-up from as little as £1 each time, with bundles available from £5/month for more regular usage.

Less than £10/month

You can get a SIM card for your mobile phone with coverage from EE for as little as £5/month.

For added flexibility, you can also look at the Pay As You Go bundles from ASDA Mobile and EE. For instance, ASDA Mobile offers 125 minutes, 2000 texts and 250MB of internet for just £5/month. Alternatively, you can upgrade to 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data for £7/month.

From £10/month

Most alternative deals using coverage from EE start from around the £10/month price point. Our recommended tariff is ASDA Mobile’s £10 bundle. This gives you 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 3GB of data for £10/month. As it’s a Pay As You Go bundle, there’s no need to undergo a credit check and you also have complete flexibility to change tariffs at any time.

On a Pay Monthly contract, you can consider the deals being offered by EE, BT Mobile and Plusnet Mobile (all three brands belonging to the BT Group). If you’re an existing customer of BT Broadband, a discount of £5/month is available on BT Mobile plans. You can also get a 12-month contract from Virgin Mobile giving you access to 2G, 3G and 4G coverage on EE.

£20/month and more

The following deals are available from £20/month with coverage from EE. For £25/month, Virgin Mobile offers an “unlimited everything” tariff but this is exclusive to Virgin home phone & broadband customers.

For more information about data speeds and tethering, tap the data allowances in the table above. For Pay Monthly contracts, you can tap the mobile network’s logo for information about the length of the contract.

Your Comments
6 so far

Bobsaid:

Hi Ken. Just tries an ASDA SIM Only Data bundle to test a Huawei Y7 2019 with, after seeing friend’s wife getting very bad RF performance with her Huawei phone. Sat in their living room my Nokia was on 4 bars 4G+, and she was struggling to get 1 bar of signal. Turned out her provider was no longer on EE network but was on O2, so definitely worth getting a cheap PAYG SIM to check as you say 👍
My Nokia is using a Plusnet SIM on a 30 day no Contract contract, and no complaints, especially as getting what they call bMates Rates for having fibre + phone package with them. They’ve also started doing very good 12 month SIM only Contracts, e.g.presently 5gb data unlimited texts and unlimited minutes. I have just auto stopped the Asda bundle though, as I’d grabbed the double data deal when it was on, but nowhere did it say that the deal only lasted for 30 days. Only slightly naughty though, as the telesales lady pointed it out to me, and with how good the RF performance has been, I wouldn’t let it put me off, and I’ll probably just keep the SIM going with simple PAYG use for the backup phone. Great performance with it in the Y7 2019 by the way. But I do see the Security issues with Chinese tech now, the permissions it’s given itself really aren’t nice, and I certainly wouldn’t use it for critical things like banking, NFC, Customer Contacts, etc. All the best, Bob.

A. Blokesaid:

It might be a good idea to include real average and highest RPG inflation percentages for the previous 5 years to allow folk to budget for a Contract.

Also, BEFORE a contract is taken out, it is a very good idea to try a PAYG Sim from a possible Provider, so that one knows what the signal strength, stability, reliability and download speed in your individual using area is.

Dan Mercersaid:

Wondering if notwithstanding them both being on EE You could shed any light on why Asda Internet: is so superior to 1pMobile? The Latter flags as ‘Club’ whereas Asda it’s own name . . . Same phone in same flat – 1pMobile like a most of time grounded Jumbo that does sod all fae ages then after ages whooshes whereas Asda performs as 3G should and with only 2 Bars?
Hard to believe no 2+ tier system exists in practice lol!

Hi Dan,
Many thanks for your comment. Whilst both networks use EE as their coverage provider, there can still be differences in network priority, data speeds, etc. Unfortunately, this is pretty hard to quantify as the figures are not published anywhere publicly and your mileage may differ depending on factors like your network, location, time, and congestion on the local mast. If you find that the ASDA Mobile SIM card performs a lot better, this may be a good reason to use it over the SIM card from 1pMobile.
Ken

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About Ken

My passion is helping people to get the most out of their mobile phone. I've been blogging at Ken's Tech Tips since 2005.

Aside from writing about mobile technology, I have an interest in software development, digital marketing and physics. Outside of the blog, I work with numerous technology companies helping them to market their product to consumers. Find out more.